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Consumers: We don't need our stuff

Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY
6:12 p.m. CDT May 12, 2014

In this Monday, Oct. 14, 2013 photo Alicia Menendez, center foreground, host of the "Alicia Menendez Tonight" show on Fusion, an English-language television network targeting millennial Hispanics, holds up a "selfie" with her production team as they pose for a photo in Doral, Fla. Menedez describes her new Fusion show as a mix of sex, money and politics. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) ORG XMIT: FLWL202(Photo: Wilfredo Lee AP)

Half of them say they'd happily live without most of the items they own in a global survey of 10,574 adults ages 16 and up in 29 nations. The survey, titled "The New Consumer and the Sharing Economy," was done by the communication giant Havas Worldwide and will be released Tuesday.

Seventy percent of those surveyed said that overconsumption puts the planet at risk.

"Every step of the way, they are practicing less is more — and savoring the less," says Andrew Benett, global CEO of Havas.

Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said society would be better off if people shared more and owned less.

That's a clear warning to companies and brands that make everything from clothing to cars. Particularly cars. City dwellers will be more likely to share than own a car by 2050, predict more than one-third of those surveyed.

"Smarter consumerism," the report says, "promises to significantly alter our economic models and the roles that brands are expected to play."

And, yes, consumers practice what they preach. They get rid of their stuff regularly. Two-thirds said they make it a point to get rid of unneeded possessions at least once a year.